The Healthy Food Truck Initiative is a food truck certification program that allows food trucks to prove that they are “healthy” and gain recognition for doing so. ...

“We don’t think every food truck needs to be a salad truck,” Chen said. “But by certain small changes we can encourage them to make through the program, we can provide more healthy options at these really accessible, really convenient places throughout Philadelphia.”

Several collaborations have gotten the initiative this far, including those with Penn’s Student Health Service and the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. WSII is supporting the student group through its Impact Certification program, which offers “funding, guidance and light oversight,” said Stephanie Kim, associate director of community strategy for WSII.

The partnership came about by chance about two years ago, said Diana Minkus, senior associate for The Food Trust’s Night Market food truck program. A colleague found a HFTI flyer on Penn’s campus and passed it on to Minkus, who recognized that the initiative shared a mission with The Food Trust — to improve public access to healthy food.